Not Exactly a Mindless Drone Anymore
by IGNABAGON
Summary: The green vehicle came around to his side and attempted- and succeeded- to ram him off the side of the road and slagging his side mirror in the process. The Vehicon swerved and twirled around when his rapidly spinning tires lost almost all traction in the sand, making the burning sand fly everywhere and engulf him in a cloud of red. He needed to get back to the nemesis! Eventual /
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, so, this is my first story involving a drone. Hope you guys find it enjoyable!**

The battlefield was littered with graying purple corpses.

Every single one of the Autobots had left the skirmish unscathed. Again.

Amidst the battered frames that scattered across the unforgiving ground, one pair of optics slowly onlined, and shuttered momentarily, as a pile up of system error reports screamed at him to see a medic. The vehicon, frame slightly shorter than most, slowly lifted himself to a sitting position and observed his surroundings. Every other 'Con in the area was dead, slowly fading from their standard regal purple to gunmetal gray. Protocol dictated that the drone comm. the _Nemesis_ for a groundbridge to be picked up, get his necessary repairs, then go about his duty. That was exactly what he did. Or, at least, attempted to do, because his comm. links were down, either that or damaged, he couldn't tell.

He weighed his options. Sit here and hope for pick up, or leave and hope he finds some sort of way to get in contact with his fellow decepticons. A quick check on his energon reserves, and it seemed his decision was made for him.

 _Energon level: 32%_

The Vehicon grunted as he attempted to stand. It was very painful. It was then, that it dawned on him exactly _why_ he had been unconscious, and why his reserves were so low, when a sharp gasp of pain escaped his vocalizer and his servo flew his midsection, servo being immediately slicked with energon from his dripping wound. He clenched his denta and shuffled his peds forward, preparing to rummage through his dead comrades for energon and spare parts.

His heavily conditioned 'soldier' processor saw no problem with it. He was just another drone, anyways, and so were the dead soldiers around him. It's not like they _needed_ their parts anymore.

 **Months later**

The vehicon sped down an abandoned highway, his scratched, dull, and un-maintained frame reflecting a minimal amount of sunlight. He had been scavenging for energon, and managed to discover a small amount wedged between a few large boulders, much to his content. He had been even more pleased with himself when he stumbled out of the woods and shrubbery into a clearing, and found himself on the edge of an unused road, giving him a chance to exercise his wheels and just _drive_ carelessly for the first time in cycles. Travelling in the dense trees did horrors to his paint, causing his magnificent purple paint to be merely a shadow of itself, faded and scratched, especially around his peds and shoulders, where he had to weave through branches and trudge through bushes and overgrowth. He snickered as he imagined his ship's Medics' facial expression if he were to ever lay eyes upon his paintjob.

He swerved around an imperfection in the road and continued driving. He had run into some campers, once. A human male and his smaller human male offspring. They panicked, alright. Big time. He was sure he gave the older one a spark attack when he was spotted coming through the trees. If he were still reporting to his superiors and hadn't been left behind, he probably would have killed the humans, in all honesty. Travelling endlessly and viewing the many wonders of this planet can really change a mech, especially a vehicon that isn't even supposed to have a basic personality, he supposed. Don't get him wrong, if Starscream came barreling through the trees and started barking orders at the vehicon, he would probably follow, but he just simply isn't what he used to be. Or what any other drone is now, for that matter.

He had long since discarded his original designation, and renamed himself Elias. He renamed himself after he ran into the campers, when he realized how much he had actually _changed._ He knew he would have shot the two humans. He would have made them two black spots on the ground, but upon realizing he was no longer a mindless drone, a mindless follower, he named himself Elias, when he heard the bigger human reveal the smaller human's designation in a moment of panic and fear. Elias was the name of the small human. Elias continued to dwell in his processor, until his attention was quickly directed back to the road to avoid another imperfection that could potentially pop his tires.

The vehicon had long since given up his hopes of trying to find his way back aboard the _Nemesis,_ after he realized that no, serving Lord Megatron was not the only way of life, and that yes, he did need to focus more on surviving than worshipping a mech that has probably no qualms about offlining Elias by crushing his helm under his massive ped, simply because he was in a bad mood. That, and he had taken a liking to the human music radio, something that doesn't(at least he doesn't think, he never knew about it or tried) work on the ship, being so high in the atmosphere. There had been several occasions where he'd break out in dance while listening to the human music, and if in car mode, he'd just bounce on his tires, which is what he was doing now. He quietly hummed along to AC/DC as he took a turn to a more populated road, his speed causing the blazing sand next to the road to fly up in his wake.

He cranked his radio louder, if anything to muffle the sound his humming a little. He passed a road sign that read 'Welcome to Jasper, Nevada.' and decreased his speed to accommodate the desired speed limit of the town. He usually didn't pass through towns, being there was nothing he could actually _do_ within it, except stare at little fleshlings. Not something he wanted to do exactly, sorry fleshlings. He opted to simply pass through the town, and just be on his way.

Over the months, he had observed the specific pattern of human traffic, and with a little research on their browsers, he was able to learn said pattern. He used this knowledge to his advantage now. He stopped at the red light, his music still blaring in his audio receptors, and his frame bouncing slightly to the beat of his human music, which he was sure that even with his relatively soundproof armor, the music could still be heard on his exterior. He didn't mind, though. His light turned green, and he drove deeper into the town, fully intending to emerge on the other side and never look back as he sped into the distance. He merged into the outer lane that held the sidewalk next to it, and stopped at yet another accursed red light.

He continued to bounce on his wheels, now to the beat and because of his impatience of waiting, but shortly eased his movements slightly to look at the three fleshies that were giving him an incredulous stare. One was a femme, her black organic head-wires had pink paint in it and was held in two human acessories, another was a male, head-wires black as well, but shorter than the femmes, and the last, who was much shorter, a male with brown head-wires and optical aides adorning his face.

They all looked nervous and fearful, yet for some reason confused. Was it because he was blaring music? Maybe cars don't bounce.. he should really try to drop the bouncing habit when he was in a populated area. Maybe they knew what he was? If they did, he could understand the confused stares then, because he was completely out of the typical vehicon behavior zone. _Way_ out. That, and he was probably scratched and dented to the pit. Lord Megatron would typically _never_ allow his soldiers, cannon fodder or not, to run around looking slagged, as it would be viewed bad on his part, _'because he would seem too poor to supply his own soldiers with their necessities'_. If anything, his Lord would want his soldiers to look like Megatron was a grand and glorious leader. Which, of course he was. The light turned green again and Elias revved his engine, snickering as the humans flinched, and peeled down the road with an audial piercing screech, before being forced to slow down, lest he crash into the car to his front.

He drove through the town for some time, and huffed in relief as he bypassed a sign stating he was leaving the town. This place gave him the creeps, because there was this yellow and black car that kept trailing him. He had outmaneuvered the car, yes, but as soon as he did, a large green vehicle replaced it, further freaking him out. He had a growing suspicion that they were autobots. Soon enough, the camaro found its way back to him, and drove alongside the green one, before being joined by _yet another_ vehicle, a blue and baby pink motorcycle. His suspicions, to his great dismay, were proven true when he caught a glimpse of their emblem when they got _a little /too/ up close and personal_ for his liking. They seemed to falter a little as Elias, as casually as he could, drove outside of city limits, they were confused that he was not engaging them in battle, he could tell, but they still followed. Internally, he was screaming. Panic set in and he shut off his music, and, quite suddenly, peeled down the long road. He needed to get _away!_ Dread settled into his spark as he realized that by running away from the populace, and coming out in the open, with no place to hide and everywhere to run, he was sealing his fate.

 _No!_

He decided to test a theory.

He skidded and spun on his tires, and drove back towards the town. He narrowly clipped the camaro's side mirror with his own, both having dodged each other last second as the vehicon desperately raced back towards civilization. The three vehicles swerved around and resumed their chase.

Elias hopped a curb and spun around in a parking lot, creating skid marks in his panic... and parked(perfectly, might he add). He parked right next to a building, in a populated area, hoping to sweet primus that the autobots had the moral code that they are rumored to have. The three 'Bots parked around him, making him _extremely_ uncomfortable. The motorcycle was the first to speak up, her hologram it's usual unnatural stiff posture, "What are you planning, 'Con?" She spoke his allegiance name with venom. Elias didn't reply at all, only responding by hunkering down further on his wheels.

They wouldn't attack him, not here. There were too many organics around, and if the Autobots were to attack him, they would only blow their carefully concealed disguises. Elias let out a -rather pathetic- squeal of alarm when the green Autobot rammed into the back of him. Why was he always wrong? They wouldn't transform, but it doesn't mean they wouldn't dent the slag out of him. The Autobot rammed him again, and the 'Con was about to peel out of the parking lot, when a rather _angry_ human barged out of the store next to them. "Hey!" The human stomped over to the vehicles, "That's someone's car and you're destroying it!" The human was a relatively small adult male, black head-wires reaching his ears and slightly tanned organic skin. He had on a red collared torso-cover and black leg covers that all of the humans wore, but he had an apron covering his front with a tag attached to it that said 'Hobby lobby'. The human had optical aides sitting low on his nose, and his face was red and twisted in obvious anger. "That's a nice car! Someone obviously paid a lot to customize it and you're just _wrecking_ it?!" He stood behind the vehicon and in front of the large green autobot- a rather courageous move- and proceeded to scream at 'whoever was in the vehicle'. "Get away from this car!"

Bulkhead revved his engine in frustration, but wasn't sure what he should do. The human obviously thought that they were just abusing the already-battered 'Con for no good reason. He had no choice but to back off and wait for the drone to come back into the open. As he was in reverse, backing up so he could drive off, he heard the vehicon let out a long-held vent in relief. He revved his engine again and lurched forward in a silent-but-loud threat, not wanting the 'Con to get comfortable or feel safe, and huffed in satisfaction when he saw the drone stiffen on his tires, and continued to back up to leave. Elias watched the three Autobots leave, and stifled a laugh when the human made an obscene hand gesture at the cyclebot's hologram. The male turned around to face the vehicon and dragged his servos down his small fleshy faceplates, "Oh god, you're so banged up." The human came closer and looked the car over. "I don't see a license plate.." The human checked the chronometer on his wrist, "Ugh, I need to get back to my shift!" He exclaimed and trotted back into the human store.

The vehicon huffed and waited. He wasn't sure what he should do; speed out of the parking lot and risk offlining by the Autobots, or stay here and risk the human coming back. Neither option seemed very appealing, though his processor was made up to stay put when he saw the Autobots cruise by again, this time, with a large semi truck that he recognized as Optimus Prime trailing closely behind. What? The only reason he was able to recognize the Prime when he couldn't even name the rest of the 'Bots, was because Lord Megatron made it almost impossible to _not_ recognize the mech.

Elias strained his audials when a sickly familiar noise captured his attention. He turned his optics to the sky- and there- there it was- a bird-like object passing overhead, it's angular frame immediately recognized as Laserbeak. All regard for the Autobots was immediately discarded when the need to get back on the ship took over him; the need to see other vehicons, the need for a stable energon source, and the need to recharge on an actual berth, no matter how uncomfortable, made him spin his wheels and shoot out of the lot in desperation to catch up to Laserbeak. He barreled down the road leaving town, optics still trained on the Decepticon.

"Laserbeak!" He turned up his vocalizer to the max to try and get the quickly vanishing 'Con's attention. "Commander Soundwave!" He called out again. Frag his fried comm. links! He lurched forward and yelled in surprise when the camaro from before rammed into his rear.

 _His bumper is sooooo dented… Slaggit! What was with them and ramming into his aft? That sounded dirty.._

The green vehicle came around to his side and attempted- and succeeded- to ram him off the side of the road and slagging his side mirror in the process. The Vehicon swerved and twirled around when his rapidly spinning tires lost almost all traction in the sand, making the burning sand fly everywhere and engulf him in a cloud of red. He gained control, and with a final spin of his tires, pitched forward and away from the others. He saw Laserbeak curve around in the sky, heading back in his direction, the skirmish no doubt attracting his attention.

Primus bless him, he was saved! A groundbridge opened directly in front of him and he drove straight through, noting that it closed just out of the Autobot's reach after Laserbeak swooped through behind him. He stumbled out of his alt mode, dropping dirt and sand all around him, grinning like an idiot behind his standard issue mask. He was in the transport room, none other than Lord Megatron himself standing in front of him, glaring at him expectantly with Commander Soundwave lingering next to/behind him.

 _Wow, Megatron must have absolutely_ nothing to do _for him to be addressing me himself._

"Lord Megatron, sir, Commander Soundwave." He dropped to a knee, because, well he was supposed to show some form of respect, of course, but mostly because he was venting harshly in exhaustion and could barely stand at the moment. "It is an honour to lay optics upon you again." He hung his head low in the form of submission, a practice he had long grown unused to. He decided he didn't like it, having tasted sweet freedom for so long.

"VR-34, _Why,_ pray tell, have you failed to report in for half a stellar cycle? You have been declared offline for quite some time now.." If looks could kill, Elias would be nothing more than an energon stain on the ground.

"My comm. links are damaged, sir." He was glad he had his mask to hide his nervously biting his derma plating. He's never had this problem before, where he had to control himself from quaking in fear. Was it because he didn't have fully developed emotions like the last time he was in the presence of an officer? Sure, all of the drones had basic emotions, but they were almost feral. They could hate, feel comfort, prefer something, feel fear, and understand language, but they didn't necessarily have a coherent string of thoughts or complex feelings. They were just trained soldiers.

Megatron gave the drone a contemplating look. The drone looks like he's been through the pit; he was scratched helm to ped, visor unusually dimmed, armor dented, and covered- no, _caked_ in a layer of dirt and red sand that twisted his faded and sun bleached purple paint into an unusual color. The drone himself was unusual, his posture wasn't professional like the other drones, he seemed.. off. He was most definitely damaged, he could see the traces of being shot right in his stomach, where it was tinted black and slightly warped, along with minimal damage to the side of his helm, likely grazed by a blast. He vented and looked the trembling drone over once more, " Go to the Medical Bay and see to it that you are repaired." And with that, left the transport room, TIC following closely behind, Laserbeak latched to his chassis.

The vehicon let out a long held vent and got back to his peds.

The medbay doors slid open to reveal the backside of a medic leaning over a table and organizing his tools. "Commander Knockout, sir?"

"Hmmm?" The medic turned around to face the vehicon, and his facial plates blanched in horror at the sight. Heh. So that was what his expression would be. Not as dramatic as he expected, but still pretty terrified, nonetheless.

The vehicon then spoke, "I was ordered to co-"

"Primus! You're absolutely _filthy!_ " The medic cut him off after he was brought out of his stupor, and rushed over and reached out to grab his arm, but retracted his servo in uncertainty. "Just- _come here._ " The doctor guided him into a backroom that contained a medical shower. "Bathe in here, I can't have you stomping around my med bay like that!" Knockout left the room and shuddered. Elias looked the shower over and(when he was sure he was alone) squealed in delight. He hadn't had bathed in what felt like _ages._ He bounced on his peds momentarily then hopped over to the shower to turn it on.

 **A/N: Rate and Review? Gimme some feedback, guys, I want to know where I should go with this! Also, I wanna put in some commander romance in there, but i'm unsure who Elias should be shipped with.. I'm fond of Dreadwing(he needs more love tbh), but I also kind of want Shockwave? Because Shockwave is bae.**

 **OR**

 **OR MAYBE**

 **It can be a threeway ship? That would be fragging amazing. Imma do it. Tell me what you think! I would need to make this a borderline AU though because Dreadwing dies almost as fast as he shows up and it suuuucks**


	2. Chapter 2

Elias discovered that he _could_ get human radio reception on board the _Nemesis!_

He took advantage of that now, as he wiggled his hips in the shower, half humming and half singing while he scrubbed himself down.

' _She had them apple bottom jeans!_

 _Boots with the furs,_

 _she had the whole club lookin' at her.'_

His mask was sitting on a stand near the shower stall. The drone picked out months worth of gathered rock, twigs, and dirt clumps from between his joints, and _wow,_ did it feel _good getting those out._ He never realized how much it had bothered him until he was able to get them out.

The water that made it's way to the floor was brown with all of the dirt that dribbled down his frame, and he didn't leave the shower until the water that fell off him was clear. He continued humming as he was blow dried, and then paused, quickly shutting off his music and the dryer as he noticed the medic staring at him with a bewildered look from across the room.

He'd never seen a drone act like _that._

Elias mentally slapped himself when he realized the medic had probably entered the washroom wondering why the drone was taking a very, _very_ long shower.

"Uum.." The drone managed vocalize, "Thanks for the.. shower? Uh. Sir." He had barely remembered to add 'Sir' at the end. Slag him and his awkwardness.

"Uh." The doctor looked left then right awkwardly, flustered that he had witnessed a drone moving his hips in such a way, _in his washroom._ Weren't they supposed to be mindless? "You're welcome."

"I uh, still need repairs to my midsection and communications." Elias turned the conversation away from their awkward stand-off, and Commander Knockout seemingly perked up in remembrance.

"Ah! Yes! Right this way." The doctor hurried off to get the necessary supplies, and Elias slumped in relief, then remembered to straighten back up, before leaving the washroom.

"What is your designation?" The mech's back was turned to the drone as he spoke.

"It's El- uh, VR-34, Sir." Elias stiffened as the Commander turned around and looked at him with a confused- and suspicious- side glance. Oh dear. He must look glitched to the pit and back. Dear Primus, he's doomed.

"Well, VR-34, lay on the table there. I will have to put you under for the likely internal damages that I'm going to have to fix." The doctor turned to face the shorter mech and put a hand on his hip. He gestured at the table with his other hand, occupied by a tool of some sort- pit, he didn't know any of the fancy medical names for the not-so-fancy and ever so slightly scary medical tools laying around. Elias swallowed and timidly walked to the table, trying to act normal- and noting somewhere in the back of his processor that he left his face mask in the washroom and his strained expression was totally exposed. He nearly offlined where he currently stood.

 **A/N: I'm going to try and make it a point to upload every two to three days. Yes, that does mean shorter chapters, but I'm sure that the frequency that it's uploaded will more than make up for it c: I'll wait a tad longer than I did to upload the next chapter than I did this one, but i will admit, patience is not one of my best qualities XD**


	3. Chapter 3

**To KHGiggle: Thank you! I'm so glad that you feel it's more believable! I never get far in any story I try to write, but i have a feeling this one's going to be going on for a while~ Though i'm having trouble exactly where in the timeline Elias is going to be falling into, or if i should just throw him into an AU**

 **To Wolf1989: Ayy thanks! So Shockwave's going to definitely be in there. Sorry I didn't reply in the last chapter, i forgot ^_^;;**

Elias onlined his optics to see an orange face hovering over him.

He may have jumped a little. Ok, he jumped a lot.

Elias' forehelm collided with the larger blue mechs with a painful ' _clang!',_ and both mechs retracted their helms with a servo to their forehelm.

"Oww.."

"Uugh…" Breakdown sounded out, "That'll cause a processor ache."

"What are you doing?" The doctor had entered the room and is now giving both of them pointed glares, "Breakdown, stop scaring my patient." He made a vague gesture with his servo and made his way toward us, "I have fixed your communications and any damage done to your midsection. I had to put you under for the internal damage done, in which I had to perform surgical actions to repair. You'd be fit for duty, but," He looked down at a data pad in his hand, "It appears you've been shoving energon crystals down your intakes instead of processed energon." Commander Knockout stopped next to the table and dragged his optics away from his pad and gave an accusatory glare to Elias.

Elias looked down at his peds, "Sorry, sir."

"Oh. This is yours." Breakdown held out the drone's mask. Elias' optics lit up and grabbed the mask from out of the nurses servos and went to put it on, when the doctor's servo stopped him.

"First, before you conceal that face of yours," Knockout looked down at Elias, "I have a question to ask of you." Breakdown nodded at the drone after Knockout's statement.

Elias did not like that tone _at all._ It was a tone that screamed 'I know something I shouldn't know!' and the commander was quick to confirm the drone's thoughts.

"After you were hooked up," He gestured to a now-empty computer screen to the right of the table, "I noticed that.. your processorwaves seemed off. More active than a regular drone, if you will. Now of course," He lifted a digit and started a thoughtful pace back and forth, "It is not uncommon to find drones who think more than the other drones, But you," He pointed momentarily at Elias before starting his pace again, "Have more processor power than any other drone previously on my examination table. Triple, Quadruple even," Knockout waved his arm around, "The processor power. Almost like a normal mech." He stopped and gave Elias a calculative look.

"When I asked for your designation, what was it that first escaped your glossa before you corrected yourself?" Elias cringed. He's such a dumbaft. "Well?" The doctor asked again.

"E-Elias, sir." Knockout seemed surprised, like he hadn't actually expected a different name. Breakdown looked from the drone to Knockout, who had gained a triumphant grin, and held on hand behind his back, and one hand up near his chest, obviously proud that his suspicions were correct, but soon gained a evil smirk.

"Well! As I suspected. You've defected from the Decepticon cause! That is why you ran away from the _Nemesis_ and renamed yourself! There is no other explanation!" The ecstatic doctor pointed a sharp digit at the panicking drone.

Elias sputtered, " Wh-what!?" He waved his servos infront on him, " N-No! Never!"

Breakdown visibly faltered and gave Knockout an incredulous glare, who laughed out loud and bent to place his servos on his knees, "I was kidding! Just kidding!"

Breakdown huffed and looked at the small drone, "What he meant to say is that we know you've developed a personality." He looked back at his superior who was on the floor writhing with laughter.

"His faceplates!"

"Yeah.." The blue mech turned back to Elias, "Ya know, it might get lonely hanging around drones who don't have personalities. If you ever need a proper conversation, the med bay's doors are never locked."

"Unless we're undergoing a surgical operation." Knockout had finally gathered his bearings and was off the floor.

"Oh, um. Okay." The drone was embarrassed that he had fallen for Commander Knockout's trick.

Breakdown gave him a smile and an elbow nudge, "Don't take it personally. Knockout just just an afthole."

Knockout gave an indignant squawk, "Am not!" He thought for a moment, "Maybe." Breakdown laughed and the Doctor huffed, "Well anyway, we need to get your tanks used to having processed energon again. I have a special energon mix just for that, and for refueling you need to come here instead of the energon storage. I should have a cube ready for each arrival."

All three mechs turned towards the door when it hissed open, revealing a large navy blue seeker.

 _Oh my Primus, who is that?_

The large seeker strode in, holding his left arm close to him, obviously damaged, yet it somehow it did nothing to hinder the pride and absolute _elegance_ that held his posture. His sculpted golden faceplates were set in a scowl and his brilliant red optics were bright with anger.

"Dreadwing?" Knockout made his way toward the large mech.

Elias shifted uncomfortably on the table, legs swinging idly over the edge. Being short even for a drone such as himself, he couldn't quite touch the floor.

Dreadwing sighed in frustration, "Our Lord doesn't exactly hold his anger in well, as you know." Dreadwing was beginning to lose faith in Megatron. He was not a very honorable mech.

It wasn't long before Elias took notice to the other seeker that had followed Dreadwing in. He leaned sideways slightly to get a better look at the tag-along, and quickly noticed that he looked exactly like the first, except displayed a green paintjob rather than blue.

 _A twin? That's fragging amazing._

"Is there anything I can do for you, Skyquake?" Knockout asked as he examined Dreadwing's arm.

"No." Was the simple answer.

"Alright.." Knockout turned to Elias, "I'll be seeing you in a few megacycles when it's your shift to refuel. Just go to whatever station you had before you left."

"Y-yes sir." Elias scrambled off the table and snapped his visor back onto his face. He shuffled awkwardly past Dreadwing and his twin, and out the door.

Dreadwing looked at the small drone as he ran out the door. The drone had been gawking at him, but if anything, he couldn't believe how _small_ he was. He was an entire head shorter, and maybe some. than the average drone. He didn't know drones could feel emotion either, and that drone had the emotional color palette of any fully emotional mech out there.

Elias scurried down the hall. What was the last post he had? He struggled to remember. Was it.. Ah! It was patrol duty.. but if he went on patrol duty, wouldn't there be an extra mech on patrol since he wasn't technically supposed to be there? He nearly collided with a mech while he was lost in thought.

"Ah! I'm sorry.." He looked up to see the reflection of himself on the mask of soundwave.

"S-Soundwave! Sir!" He whipped a hand up in a salute.

Soundwave began walking around him.

"W-wait! SIr! Commander! I'm having trouble regarding my shift.." Elias wrung his servos together nervously as Soundwave turned around to face him.

"I was told by Commander Knockout to return to my previous duty before I.. got lost.. and, well, that duty has already been filled.. Where am I supposed to go?"

Soundwave remained still for a full moment before he displayed on his screen a highlighted part of the Nemesis and played a recording, "Patrol."

Soundwave had already turned around and began walking again before Elias could really respond, "Thank you, Commander!"

He turned around and started walking, before mentally kicking himself when he realized what just happened. He hadn't even thought of concealing his emotions.

Ugh! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

He sighed and focused on what he was supposed to be doing. Patrol. The same thing as what he did before, but on a different area.

He attempted to walk exactly like he saw other drones walking, calm and emotionless.

He reached the area he was supposed to patrol and continued walking, and after 10 minutes on patrol, he decided that this was very, _very_ boring. He suddenly remembered about the music he had recorded from the radio. He giggled to himself and started sifting through the files, before deciding on Green Day. He didn't understand their band name, why any day would be _green_ of all colors, but he liked their music anyway.

 _I'm having trouble trying sleep.._

 _I'm counting sheep but runnin' out.._

Elias added a slight bounce to his step as he strode down the hallway. The music was being played through his comm. links, that way, no one could hear it but him.

He hummed slightly as he made his way through his patrol route.


	4. Chapter 4

Elias practically bounced down the hallway. In fact, he was so lost in himself that when he danced around a corner, he slowly spun around to the direction he was supposed to take, shaking his hips, to come face to face with the Leader of the Autobots himself, Optimus Prime, just finishing off a drone, three more at his feet.

Elias shut off his music.

The two stared at each other.

 _Well this is just fragging great._

Optimus was hesitant to shoot. Not only had the drone not armed himself yet (For some reason it hadn't even _crossed_ Elias' mind to arm himself, he's so out of battle practice), but he had caught the drone showing signs of a _personality_.

Optimus had his weapon aimed at Elias, who just stood there like a deer in headlights. Only when the drone finally transformed his servo(It had finally dawned on him that he should do something), that Optimus instinctively shot his firearm, in which Elias squeaked and dodged, rolling behind the corner.

Elias was confused as to why the alarm wasn't sounded yet. Maybe they didn't know the Prime was here?

 _"Commander Soundwave, the Prime is on the ship!"_ He all but screamed into his comm. unit at Soundwave.

He jumped when the alarms flared and the ship's lights began to blink red. He screeched again when the Prime jumped around the corner and all but tackled the small drone. Elias began flailing and hitting him, _hitting him,_ with his transformed firearm.

Optimus couldn't help but feel absolutely terrible for attacking the drone. With any other drone, he was simply putting to rest an emotionless bot, but this vehicon, he actually felt like he was murdering him. The panicked screams weren't helping.

Optimus was hit several times in the helm with the gun.

He was caught off guard, however, when he was forcefully torn from the drone by one of his smokestacks and thrown back by a powerful servo. He grunted as he landed on the floor.

"Your presence on this ship is illogical. You are outnumbered and outgunned."

Optimus rolled out of the way as the ground he was previously occupying turned smoldering black (with a large crater) with a powerful blast from Shockwave's cannon.

Elias backed against the wall on his aft and began scooting away from the scene. Both mechs were scary, and he didn't want to get anywhere _close._ Dammit, why didn't he have this problem before he was left behind? He didn't used to be so wimpy.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when another explosion sounded and a powerful force dragged him back towards the battle, a loud ' _whoosh_ 'ing sound rushing past his audials. His head snapped back into their direction and- OH FRAG, there's a gaping hole in the side of the ship! His small frame was helpless against the powerful wind sucking him and Shockwave out of the ship. Optimus managed to get ahold of the crater in the ground, preventing him from sliding towards the hole as well. Shockwave, with nothing around him for him to hold onto, began sliding forth on his peds. His antennae flickered in alarm, a fall from this height would surely kill any mech that was unfortunate enough to fall.

The onslaught of wind eventually won its battle, and both Elias and Shockwave were forced out of the ship and began free-falling towards the unforgiving ground.

Whilst Shockwave calmly fell, stomach down and limbs spread, trying to come up with a solution to his current dilemma, Elias screeched and flung his arms around helplessly.

He rotated through the air, ground in sight, then sky, horizon slanted in his vision, then ground again, before Shockwave lifted his helm towards the frantic drone, and spoke loudly over the wind, "Quiet. I am trying to think."

Elias tried to calm himself, and eventually quieted down, and finally noticed his surroundings. There were drones flying around the ship, shooting at undoubtedly autobots, who occupied the flight deck. There was a ship flying around, one that belonged to the autobots, which Decepticons were attempting to fell.

The small drone squeaked when a flier whooshed past them and corrupted their falling.

Elias was flung towards Shockwave, and immediately latched onto his chassis for dear life. Both mechs spun uncontrollably through the air, and Elias faintly heard Shockwave say something along the lines of 'hold on if you want to live', and felt himself being held tightly before they jolted harshly and began falling at an angle.

Realizing he had offlined his optics, the drone slowly cracked open an optic to realize that Shockwave had not only wrapped his gun arm around Elias to prevent him from falling, but his free servo had grabbed onto none other than Dreadwing's jet mode.

Elias stared in awe at both of his saviors. The sight was absolutely stunning, he was being held to the chassis of a large and powerful mech, and Dreadwing's jet mode blocked the view of the sun, casting a bright light around his frame, creating a glowing effect.

The only bad news, is that they were rapidly approaching the ground, and as Shockwave continued to dig his claws deeper into the Seeker to prevent himself from slipping, which he was, he was damaging Dreadwing's frame. He had grabbed on just in front of the Seeker's wing, at the very base of it, which also would be very painful holding Shockwave's weight alone, none the less an added mech _and_ the sharp digits digging in.

The nemesis became naught but a dot in the distance, and continuously shrinking. The ground however, was a completely different story.

Elias squeaked when he heard a ripping noise, and began falling with Shockwave. He buried his helm in the scientist's chassis, and cried out as they hit the ground at an angle and rolled. His left servo's grip slipped and his arm hit the ground as they rolled, and he shrieked as it was crushed under their combined weight and twisted nearly out of place as they continued rolling, to their luck, down a very inconveniently placed slope. His arm, in too much pain to regain grip or properly hold to himself, was crushed twice more before Shockwave was stopped by a massive tree, which in turn was uprooted. Coolant stung Elias's optics as he gingerly pulled his injured arm to himself and pulled free from Shockwave's grasp. He stood up and his knee joints nearly buckled, but he managed to stay upright. He looked down over Shockwaves large frame, and knelt by his head.

Elias took a shaky intake of air through his vents and nudged the scientist's shoulder. His single optic remained offline.

"C-commander Shockwave..?" He nudged him again.

Shockwave's optic flickered to life and turned his head slightly to look at the worried drone. The optic was dim, but slowly brightened as he became more aware of his surroundings.

Elias let out a shaky vent of relief and cradled his broken arm.

"You are not like the other drones." This was not a question, he realized, it was more a statement.

"S-sir?" Elias carefully questioned.

"The way you carry yourself holds many emotions, not like the typical, properly functioning drone that I have created." Shockwave attempted to get up, and only succeeded in rolling onto his front and bracing himself up with his elbows. "It appears I require assistance standing."

The small drone tried to brush off the fact that his Commander essentially told him he was malfunctioning and attempted to help the much larger mech stand. He didn't help much, as Shockwave just used Elias to drag himself up rather than Elias actually pulling him up.

"We are going to locate the crash site of Dreadwing and see if he still functions."

"Yessir." Elias said quietly.

Shockwave, ever the tough mech, was able to walk on his own as they followed the direction that Dreadwing had flew. It wasn't very long nor far, that they heard various obscene curses.

They came upon the scene of Dreadwing in a small crater, struggling to stand as he mumbled about 'idiotic grounders' and things about 'of all mechs to fall from the sky', and calling Shockwave overweight a couple times.

"Dreadwing." Shockwave called in greeting, catching the Seeker off guard. Dreadwing's helm shot up to look at the two mechs that had emerged from the trees. He looked Elias over curiously, before focusing on the 'overweight' Scientist.

"Shockwave!" Elias flinched at his tone, "What was that for?!"

"I was merely saving myself from becoming nothing but a pile of metal upon the ground, and look," he gestured towards Elias, who stiffened, "you even saved a drone."

Dreadwing vented deeply and looked back at Elias, then squinted, "Aren't you that drone I saw in the medical bay?"

Elias sputtered, "I um-" He realized he was recognizable solely upon the sheer _multitude_ of scratches on him and the dim odd sun-bleached color of his paint. That, and he's pretty small, even for a drone. There was no getting out of this, "Yes..?"

Dreadwing wasn't used to being able to tell one drone apart from the other, "Oh. May I ask.. _what_ were you doing," he looked at Shockwave, "falling from the _Nemesis_? Are you grounders not supposed to be _inside_ the ship?"

Shockwave was going to speak, but Elias piped up, "The Commander blew a hole in the side of the ship."

The scientist snapped his helm in the direction of Elias, almost portraying ' _why would you_ '.

"I was battling with the Prime. He narrowly dodged my advances." Shockwave clarified, then looked back to Dreadwing, who shook his head at the two.

Trust Shockwave to add 'narrowly' in there, the glorious bastard.

Elias shuffled his pedes and looked Dreadwing over. He was dirty, having crashed through the dirt, but over all, the most noticeable thing was the scratches over his recently and hastily repaired arm, and his wing, that was leaking energon at the base, and his other wing, that looked like it was getting ready to detach altogether.

He definitely wasn't flying any time soon.

Shockwave spoke again, "We should contact the _Nemesis_ for a ground bridge back."

"Agreed." Dreadwing nodded, " _Dreadwing to_ Nemesis, _requesting ground bridge via my coordinates."_

 _Silence._

" _Dreadwing to_ Nemesis. _"_

More silence.

 _"Nemesis? Do you read me?_ My communications must be busted." Dreadwing sighed and looked at Shockwave, who tried instead.

"Nemesis _. This is Shockwave. I require a ground bridge._ " Still no answer.

"Maybe the Autobots sabotaged our communications?" Elias suggested meekly.

"That would be the logical explanation. However, if they cannot hear us, we are faced with a problem, as the only flier among us is injured,"

"No thanks to you."

"And the _Nemesis_ is currently set course away from our position." Shockwave finished, unbothered by Dreadwings jab.

"We'd never catch it.." Elias' shoulders slumped. He had _just_ gotten back to the _Nemesis_ , only to be thrown right back off.

"Affirmative. I do not have the necessary supplies to fix Dreadwing or your arm." Shockwave looked at the drone, who was cradling his broken arm.

"What happened to your arm? It was not broken before." Dreadwing strode forward and gingerly took hold of Elias' arm, who winced as the Seeker examined it in his large clawed servos.

"It was crushed when we hit the ground." Coolant threatened to spill from the small mech's optics as his arm was moved around to be examined. It was moments like this where he was glad he had a mask, if it weren't for the fact that his mask may short out if he actually did start crying.

"Apologies. If I had been able, I would have saved you from the fall, Shockwave has always been able to handle a fall better than other mechs." Dreadwing was quiet for a moment, then, " If we don't repair it, it should heal naturally, given time." Dreadwing finally decided, and allowed the drone to have his arm back.

Elias was almost amused that Dreadwing had basically told him that he would have caught him and left Shockwave to fall.

"What is your designation, drone?" The seeker asked.

"Oh, um. I-it's VR-34, Sir." When Dreadwing nodded in acceptance, Elias couldn't stop his glossa from adding, "B-but I like being Elias." Elias cringed when he finished the sentence and both Dreadwing and Shockwave gave him inquisitive looks.

"Elias." Shockwave tested the name out, then added, "It is not Cybertronian."

"It's an Earth name." The drone suddenly became very self conscious in that moment.

"I am uncertain my ability to remember such a foreign name, but I assure you, I will call you by your preferred designation to the best of my ability." Dreadwing held himself high and set a determined look on his face. This drone was truly something different, and his honor allowed him nothing short of attempting to inspire the drone to be his own mech, rather than being a mindless follower.

"I have no doubts on my ability to remember your preferred designation, but I will call you Elias nonetheless." Shockwave added after Dreadwing.

It was just then that Elias was certain he'd fallen for both mechs simply for accepting his preferred name without too much question.

 **A/N: AAAAAH I'm soo sorry this took so long! Tell me what you guys think, feel free to suggest anything that you would like to see happen, or give me your two cents on how you think something should be worked on in later chapters :3**


	5. Chapter 5

The sun was rapidly retreating behind the horizon.

"Scans show there is a human populace nearby," Shockwave observed.

"We should move away from it to ensure we aren't unintentionally stumbled upon," Dreadwing piped in.

"Agreed. Come, Elias," The scientist gestured for the drone to follow, and began walking in what Elias assumed to be away from the local population. Dreadwing tailed behind the two and the trio fell into silence as they trekked through the dense foliage.

It wasn't really a comfortable silence, but it wasn't exactly awkward either. Elias wasn't used to being around other Bots anymore, and following someone through the forest was definitely different than making his own way.

Living up to his rumored nature, the large cyclops worked them away from the humans in a precise, impossibly straight direction. How he managed to not veer off to the side even a little, Elias couldn't figure out. The weaved around trees and over bushes, and occasionally, when it got too thick, the mech would force a tree or two to the ground with his pede.

Shockwave and Dreadwing were much much taller than him, and both were having a harder time than he would have had getting through the branches.

Dreadwing suddenly complained, "Ugh! This puny organic foliage is working its way steadily deeper into my pede. It is getting increasingly uncomfortable."

Shockwave stopped walking and turned around, "Very well. We have walked enough distance that chances of discovery are low. We may stop here for the night cycle."

On that note, the seeker began kicking down small trees and uprooting up bushes with his pede to clear a spot for himself. Shockwave began doing the same. Dreadwing eventually cleared out enough space for his large frame and dropped onto his rear, immediately going to pick out the leaves and twigs from in between the plating and the joints of his stabilizing servos. The two were making an incredible amount of noise, Dreadwing moreso, Shockwave at least attempting to be quieter. The scientist eventually settled down into his place and also picked some twigs out of his seams with his thin pointed digits.

Elias didn't require much space, and was already accustomed to the living conditions on Earth, and as such merely settled down against a large tree. He tucked his legs in close to him and cradled his aching arm. It was dark already, and had been dark shortly after they began walking. Dreadwing had tripped a couple of times in the beginning of their trek, not used to being planetside and still weak from his fall. Shockwave was also noticeably sore, but had kept a keen optic on the ground so he didn't trip up.

Dreadwing broke the growing silence with a frustrated sigh.

"What is it this time, Dreadwing," Shockwave's tone was almost a sigh too, if he wasn't so monotone.

"There is an obstruction in my pede that I cannot identify nor reach," Dreadwing scowled.

"..Maybe I can reach?" Elias tentatively offered.

Dreadwing eyed the drone's small servos, "Perhaps you can." He straightened up and gestured towards the ground in front of him, "Come."

Elias nervously got up and kneeled in front of the seeker, "Where is it?"

"The bottom of my left pede, in the middle of the plating directly in the center."

The small bot leaned forward and examined where Dreadwing had described. His feet were obviously not meant to walk on places like earth, there were plenty of spaces for things to get stuck in. He carefully stuck a digit in the area and gently poked around the wiring and plating. He saw the seeker stiffen and immediately pulled his servo back.

"I'm sorry."

"Apologies, I did not mean to discourage you. It simply feels.. Odd. Continue."

"You're going to sever something like that." Shockwave mused from his spot on the ground.

"I want it out." Dreadwing snipped at the scientist and faced Elias again, "Continue."

Elias regretted offering to help. Interacting with his commanders was nerve wracking, and he didn't want to accidentally hurt Dreadwing, much less be blamed for it.

He gathered his courage, not wanting to appear like a wimp, and hesitantly inserted his finger back in the seekers plating and poked around some more. He continued even after Dreadwing re-stiffened, and eventually located the obstruction.

"Right there."

"I feel it," Elias responded, and proceeded to gently pry it out. At its removal, Elias let out a deep vent he hadn't realized he was holding. It was a rock. Elias had had quite a couple of these lodged in him before.

"That feels _much_ better. Thank you," Dreadwing rotated his stabilizing servo.

The drone felt himself light up at the approval. "You're very welcome." He could hardly contain how relieved he was at his success.

Shockwave observed the drone curiously.

Elias settled back into his spot, and Dreadwing got comfortable in his. Shockwave, ever since he completed removing twigs and the like, had not moved at all since.

They stayed like that for quite a while, each keeping mostly to themelves. Eventually, Elias got bored of trying to power down and began sifting through the internet. He'd created a small identity for himself online, and was usually on all social media sites, thanks to his cybertronian processor, at the same time.

He entertained himself on tumblr for a while.

Shockwave, on the other hand, despite being completely still and staring off into nothing specific, was quite busy. He couldn't figure out why they couldn't communicate with the _Nemesis_.

He had signal, he could connect with the human internet, but he couldn't use his comm. unit. He couldn't even contact Dreadwing, who was lying directly in his line of vision. The Autobots were no longer a probable cause for their communications being down. It was a possibility while the Autobots were nearby, but they were nowhere close.

Someone else must have been there during the battle, someone else must have seen them fall.

Someone else was jamming their ability to communicate with each other.

He deducted they were being followed.


	6. Chapter 6

Shockwave Immediately shot up to his stabilizing servos, startling those in his company with the sudden movement.

"We must keep moving," he hardly finished his sentence when something shot through the trees and attached itself to the scientists chassis, and no more than a split second later, it crackled to life and shot waves of electricity through his frame.

Elias and Dreadwing stood up as quickly as they could when armored humans emerged from the trees, surrounded them.

"How quaint." Dreadwing scoffed.

Shockwave regained his composure and gripped the device attached to him, yanking it off with a grunt. A weird noise rumbled in his chassis, some strange mix between a pained groan and a growl, and yet somehow managed to be quite scary. He raised his cannon arm.

Without missing a beat, the humans began firing.

Dreadwing brought out his gun and fired rapidly at the natives. However as multiple shots landed on his large frame, he began to slow down considerably. Shockwave wasn't faring much better, and even though both he and Dreadwing had landed many devastating blows on the offending creatures in mere seconds, they were outnumbered. Every human they killed, three more took their place, and being so large, dodging was difficult.

Elias on the other hand, hadn't killed anyone, and was being brought down _very_ fast. They were just such small targets and wouldn't stay still and _Primus it_ _ **hurt**_. Each hit they landed on him _stung_ to the _pit_ and darkened his vision more and more. Elias couldn't do anything more than fall to his knees at that moment. The electric charges the bullets emitted were growing overbearing and his sight kept fading in and out. He felt himself being restrained. Nets? He couldn't tell.

Next thing he knew Dreadwing was above him- when did he get on his back?- and yelling, pit, _something_ at him. He saw Shockwave in the corner of his vision take a knee. They shot him with another one of the devices they shot him with in the beginning, and he fell over.

Elias felt his spark grow cold as Dreadwing started yanking at whatever was restraining the undersized drone.

 _They were slagged. Shockwave was down, they were slagged._

The Commander above him yelled in frustration as he was continuously stung with the bullets. _What were the bullets even made of?_ What were they using that hurt so much? Now that Shockwave was incapacitated along with Elias, Dreadwing was their prime focus.

The seeker spun around and whipped out his blade and began angrily slashing it around at the ground around him, killing humans left and right.

It was around then that Elias finally blacked out.


End file.
